


Somewhere in the Heart of Rome

by RileyC



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: Introspection, Other, Pre-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 22:47:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11610549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyC/pseuds/RileyC
Summary: Napoleon makes a wish. He knows nothing will come of it, but still...





	Somewhere in the Heart of Rome

Napoleon Solo loves Rome. He’s been to a lot of amazing places in the world, places that were just names on the old globe he used to spin when he was a kid growing up. He’d spin and stop it with one finger; wherever his finger landed, that would be a stop on his itinerary when he set out to travel the world. More often than not, he remembered with a rueful smile, his finger had landed him smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

A few of the places he’s visited had proven to be drab, dismal disappointments. Others had possibility but circumstances being what they were--usually someone out to slap him in jail, or put him six feet under--he was glad to make a quick departure. Rome, though, was one of those cities he wouldn’t mind lingering over, maybe even putting down roots. This thought didn’t cross his mind often, it’s far too fanciful and ephemeral to sustain for long, but it flits through his mind whenever he stops off in Rome.

A pipe dream, of course. Nothing will ever come of it. His life doesn’t work like that.

His steps slow as he nears the Trevi Fountain, and he smiles at the tourists clustered there, hopes and dreams hanging onto the coins they toss in the water. He does dream, now and then. About what his life could be like when his period of servitude to Sanders is done.

He’ll be free. Maybe for the first time in his life. He’ll have choices. He thinks he might like to choose a new path. Get as far away from this life as he can. If he’s fuzzy on the details, an innate confidence fuels a belief that he can recreate himself: pick up a new set of skills, learn a new life. He’s done it before.

Alas, it likely will not include settling down in Rome. Still…

He watches the tourist, listens to their chatter--most of them are American and for a few moments he simply pauses there, enjoying this brief slice of home. They’ve all seen that movie, the one about the women who come to Rome and find new lives, new loves. All because they each threw a coin into this magical fountain.

Something like that anyway. It’s a long time since he’s seen the movie and there’s a chance he dozed off during some crucial bits. Visions of Anita Ekberg romping in the fountain with Marcello Mastroianni in _La Dolce Vita_ were rather more fresh--and more to his liking.

Anyway, you make your own luck. He’s always believed that. On the other hand, Napoleon can’t deny that once or twice in his life it’s felt as though fate may have given him a sharp nudge.

So he watches the tourists, decides why not, what does he have to lose, and fishes a coin from his pocket. Mimicking the tourists, he turns his back to the fountain and makes his wish as he tosses the bright piece of copper over his left shoulder. He hears it splash and looks around him for some indication of a subtle shift in the universe.

Of course there’s nothing. No one takes any notice of him. No one suddenly bumps into him and drops something, so that he has to stoop and pick it up and fall into a conversation that leads to stopping somewhere for coffee, and onward from there.

Life didn’t work like that. He hadn’t really thought it would.

In any case--he checks his watch, a rather splendid Rolex he picked up recently--he has to get the airport. Sanders has another mission. Napoleon’s supposed to get into East Berlin and extract a young woman named Gabriella Teller. Apparently she works as a mechanic there, and is the daughter of the nuclear physicist Dr. Udo Teller. Sanders hasn’t told him much beyond that but Napoleon thinks it likely the government really wants Dr. Teller and plan to use this Gabriella as leverage to get him.

Well, not his problem. He’ll get in, find her, and get out again, and that will be that. One more assignment, one more step toward freedom. He just has to stay alive long enough to get there.

He stops a taxi and gets in, tells the driver to take him to the airport, and relaxes back in the seat. He’s already forgotten what he wished for.


End file.
